Bounces and buckets — Liz Cambage and conventional estoppel

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Today’s bounce ($0.02 on a random topic) is Liz Cambage, and the bucket (same amount on a legal principle) is conventional estoppel. Woohoo!

Liz is an Aussie basketball player plying her trade in the WNBA. She is very accomplished, being a 3 time all-star, 2018 scoring champion, and, in scoring 53 points, owned the record for the highest total.

A couple of months ago, she posted a compelling article (“DNP-Mental Health”), outlining her struggles with mental illness.

I say good on Liz for doing that. No doubt it was hard to go public with her issues. The more that role models in society lead the way in voicing issues that affect so many, the more things like mental health (or lack of it) get normalised — not stigmatised.

So go #8 Las Vegas Aces!

Now for the bucket. What is conventional estoppel, and what’s a good case?

In Con-Stan v Norwich (1986) 160 CLR 226 at 244, the High Court said that estoppel by convention is a form founded on the conduct of relations between the parties on the basis of an agreed or assumed state of facts (probably now expanding to include a matter of law), which both will be estopped from denying.

This can be a useful doctrine particularly when drafting Defences, so keep it in mind.

JD #bouncesandbuckets